Garrett County Public Schools
40 South Second Street
Oakland, MD 21550
(301)334-8900

This document includes both Public Schools policy statements and administrative procedures. This document should not be considered
exclusive in the sense that no other policies or procedures exist. Neither does this document restrict in any way the Public Schools's legal
obligation to make and revise policy within the framework of The Public School Laws of Maryland.

THE STATE SCHOOL SYSTEM
and
THE GARRETT COUNTY Public Schools

Board Policy

The Free Public School System of Maryland is constitutionally
sanctioned under Article VIII which empowers and directs the General
Assembly to, "...establish throughout the State a thorough and efficient
System of Free Public Schools and to provide by taxation or otherwise for
their maintenance."

The General Assembly carries out this constitutional directive
through The Public School Laws of Maryland, which provide for a State
Public Schools, consisting of nine lay members appointed to
overlapping five year terms by the Governor. The State Board appoints
an executive staff headed by a State Superintendent of Schools.

It is the duty of the State Public Schools to cause the
provisions of The Public School Laws of Maryland to be carried into
effect, to determine the educational policies of the State and to enact
bylaws, rules and regulations governing the conduct of the public
schools.

The State of Maryland and its twenty-four political sub-divisions
share the cost of public education with the State Board prescribing
minimum standards in areas such as curricula, certification, buildings,
staff, school organization, food service, transportation, graduation
requirements, and the length of the school year. The Board also conducts
studies for the improvement of the schools and provides professional
assistance for the local systems.

The regularly published bylaws, standards, and policies of the
Board, along with The Public School Laws of Maryland, constitute State
school policy.

Membership and Appointments of the Public Schools

Maryland is divided into twenty-four political sub-divisions, each of
which has a local government operating within the framework of State Law.
Each of these sub-divisions maintains governmental and service agencies
usually associated with local government including a system of free public
schools., which in Garrett County are under the operational control of a
lay Public Schools, consisting of five elected members.

Organization, Powers, and Responsibilities of the Public Schools

The law provides that the local Board shall have a president and
vicepresident elected annually from their number and a secretary-
treasurer, or county superintendent. The county superintendent is the
executive officer of the Board, appointed for a term of four years, and
heads a staff appointed by the Board to carry out State and local
policy.

In general, the County Public Schools is directed and required to
maintain a reasonably uniform system of schools designed to provide equal
education opportunities for all youth throughout the county. The Board is
a required to cause the provisions of The Public School Laws of Maryland
and the bylaws and policies to be carried into effect. Within this
framework of State Law and State Public Schools policy, the County
Board makes local educational policy.

Among the many specific responsibilities of the County Board of
Education are the establishment of public schools, the delineation of
geographical attendance areas, the reception and administration of funds
dedicated to public education, the acquisition of sites and the
construction of school buildings, the employment of architects, the
establishment of citizens advisory groups, the consolidation of schools,
the transportation of pupils, the appointment and compensation of school
employees, the prescription of curriculum guides and programs of
instruction, and the establishment of local school policy.